ATARs cut-offs are very often meaningless, says Victoria University vice-chancellor

ATAR university entry cut-offs are very often a meaningless piece of information, an Australian university vice-chancellor says, as thousands of students wait to find out if they have been accepted to their chosen university.

The comment from the vice-chancellor of Victoria University, Peter Dawkins, comes as the university sector increasingly looks to alternative entry schemes beyond the four-digit ATAR rank to secure students.

Australian universities on the rise

More than 46,000 high school students will find out on Wednesday if they have scored above the cut-off to secure a spot in competitive courses such as law and engineering.

Citing research from the Victorian Institute of Strategic Economic Studies, Professor Dawkins said that students entering suitable degrees with lower ATARs are able to match or even exceed the performance of their more highly ranked peers.

The University of Sydney's deputy vice-chancellor, Tyrone Carlin, said that ATARs were still central to their recruitment. Photo: Jim Rice

"We look at more than just an ATAR score," Notre Dame's manager of admissions, Anne-Maree McCarthy, said. "We look at not only academic progress from individual academic transcripts, but also students' motivation to study their chosen course."

NSW academics have also warned against following the the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre decision to not publish some ATAR cut-off scores based on the preferences of universities.

Professor Carlin slammed the move, stating that it would lead to a lack of transparency.

"We would regard that as a massively retrograde step," he said. "Parents and students all want more transparency."

The debate comes as universities increasingly look to lock in students months before the main round offers and ATAR cut offs are released.

Up to 25 per cent of the University of Sydney's students will come from early entries this year, and newer universities, such as Western Sydney, have led the way on early recruitment strategies over the past three years, with more than 50 per cent of its offers coming before the main round this year.

One of those early recruits, Amy McCammon, was accepted to study a Bachelor of Medical Science at Western Sydney University before she had sat her first HSC exam in October.

"They had my year 11 and year 12 report, but in terms of HSC marks they were a bit blind," she said.

The 18-year-old said that she had spent the last three months stress-free while her classmates anticipated whether they would score the required cut off.

"I'm sure they are very nervous," she said. "But nowadays there are so many opportunities in the grand scheme of things the ATAR may not matter."

The main round of university offers are due to be announced on Wednesday.

There will be a live blog on smh.com.au as the results are released from 6pm.

Please note: The ATAR cut-offs displayed below are based on 2015 entry data. There is no guarantee the mark will be the same this year.